Category: Issue 23

ISSUE 23

POETRY SELF PORTRAIT AS MINOTAUR by Kiyoko Reidy AN ORDINARY WEAKNESS by Mikko Harvey TWO POEMS by Xochiquetzal Candelaria DER KLEINE KATECHISMUS by Constance Hansen CALLS TO ORDER by Stephanie Kaylor & LORD KNOWS by Kwame Opoku-Duku TWO SECTIONS FROM “THE BREAKUP” by Mag Gabbert THE STATE BIRD OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE by Matthew Tuckner CENTO FOR LONGING by Rage Hezekiah ARS MORIENDI (FOR JEFF…
ART by Anna Beth Lee

Anna Beth Lee is a rising sophomore at Drew University. “When creating, I ask myself: How can I make people think when they view my art? How can my art be like a fun guessing game? How can I bring that “A-ha!” feeling to viewers when they figure out the wordplay in…
MOVEMENT by Brett Hanley

I said, tie me up, tether me to something.I want to show the universe I’m ok with being stuck. I craved severe stasis. Why did everything have to be so dark, so intense with me? True stasis is contraryto our nature, contrary to everything, she told me, and I rolled my eyes,and I went to the…
TWO POEMS by Perry Janes

AT THE Q&A, THE FAMOUS FILMMAKER TELLS ME: “FORGET THE CAMERA. THAT’S JUST A TOOL. THIS COMES DOWN TO HOW YOU SEE THE WORLD.” But which one? There is a world where every green traffic light is a small terrarium filled with phosphorescent moss, salamanders basking in the sun, the rush of cars passing underneath mysterious as…
DER KLEINE KATECHISMUS by Constance Hansen

I watered the plants. I plucked their dead leaves. I fed the children and dog. I asked the coffee to raise spirits. I made no beds. I made an inadequate donation to a parentless child, survivor of the car wreck that killed my friends. I paid with my thumbprint. I sent another friend money who sent…
THE APPARENT PATH by Casey Guerin

There’s a level of trust required to shoot a dart across a stage and into another person’s open mouth that few people can achieve. I think of the birth of my son, the way the world fizzled to black as the doctor threaded the needle between my legs to break my water; of how I…
THE GAIN by Jennifer Solheim

While conducting fieldwork in Morocco I lived in a women’s pension, female bodies in conversation. But I walked the streets of Rabat alone. I covered my blond hair with a headscarf, and plotted routes to marvel at the city with no distractions. The prayer towers and palm trees, the narrow neighborhood streets with vivid blue doors.…
FALL by Joshua Garcia

I am confronted, when I step outside, by treesdripping with yellow & wet with black. I have failed. I have spent my time not loving.Or is there such a thing? Once, a man told me, I have lived my life in a way that will end alone,then moved my hand away from him, holding it at my…
ARS MORIENDI (FOR JEFF BEZOS & ELON MUSK) by Benjamin Aleshire

My fellow members of the board: In the parable you see here, if the global south is Jesus & the technofacists are Judas & the Democratic Party …
CENTO FOR LONGING by Rage Hezekiah

I become convinced of the infinite curve of love, write a poemin which you soften me like gerunds. Mea small noise, me without a mouth. I have always loved too much, or not enough. I want a home, a new slick leaf unfurling like a fist to an openpalm. My voice is an unnamed animal in the kingdom of impossible things, and I am made by loss. I make you a…
THE STATE BIRD OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE by Matthew Tuckner

for B. The front yard is littered with American robinswho don’t know they are American robins. Years ago, I knew the word for this kind of freedom. Death was just a concept. I was more gullible than an ear. …
TWO SECTIONS FROM “THE BREAKUP” by Mag Gabbert

I’m already softening, a too-comfortable beast with meat on the boneI’m already softening, a too-comfortable beast with meat on the boneI’m already softening, a too-comfortable beast with meat on the boneI’m already softening, a too-comfortable beast with meat on the boneI’m already softening, a too-comfortable beast with meat on the boneI’m already softening, a too-comfortable…